The Marvel Villain You Likely Forgot The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons Played

Of all the absurd, utterly hilarious characters to come out of the critically-acclaimed CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory," arguably none were as iconic (nor as beloved) as Jim Parsons' Sheldon Cooper. Sheldon is a hyper-intelligent physicist working at Caltech alongside his roommate Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki). Despite his incredibly high IQ, Sheldon is constantly unable to grasp the most basic of social cues. While Sheldon's lack of social grace and neurotic habits constantly test the patience of those closest to him, audiences and critics around the world fell in love with him, eventually leading to the spinoff series "Young Sheldon."

Sheldon was the breakthrough role for Parsons, who received 4 Primetime Emmy Awards for his performance in the series and was launched into superstardom almost overnight. The role is so iconic that it's hard to see Parsons without immediately thinking of "The Big Bang Theory," though that doesn't mean he hasn't had his fair share of work outside of the hit series, with roles in the likes of "Hidden Figures," "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," and "The Boys in the Band," to name a few. In fact, one of Parsons' more unusual roles came in "The Super Hero Squad Show," wherein he played one of the more formidable members of Doctor Strange's rogues' gallery.

"The Super Hero Squad Show" was an animated series produced by Marvel Animation, which was in turn based on the "Marvel Super Hero Squad" line of action figures from Hasbro. The series takes many of Marvel's most iconic superheroes and villains and turns them into hyper-cartoonish, comedic parodies of themselves, and presents a much more lighthearted take on their comic source material. In the series, Jim Parsons voices the supervillain Nightmare, one of Doctor Strange's most iconic rivals who's also long been rumored to make his live-action debut in the upcoming "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

In the comics, Nightmare is the demonic ruler of the Dream Dimension and spends his time tormenting sleeping individuals for fun. He has the ability to manipulate the dreams of others, to the point where he can actually plant suggestions and thoughts within that person's mind in order to alter their behavior. It's oddly hilarious to see this utterly malicious villain turn into a sillier version of himself in "The Super Hero Squad Show," and Parsons does an excellent job at emphasizing just how ridiculous Nightmare's powers truly can be. Indeed, considering the fact that Parsons barely alters his voice for the role, it's almost as if Marvel got Sheldon Cooper himself to play the part – and the result is absolutely hysterical.

It appears the pipeline from "The Big Bang Theory" to starring in a superhero property is alive and well, seeing as how several of the main cast members also have superhero parts to their names. First, there's Mayim Bialik, who played Sheldon's future wife, Amy, on the program. She provided voice roles for the 2003 video game "X2: Wolverine's Revenge." Over a decade later, she'd return to the world of superheroes, providing the voice of Lady Lightning for the animated movie "Stan Lee's Mighty 7."

However, Bialik isn't the only "Big Bang Theory" lady to get in on the superhero bandwagon. In fact, two of the main female stars throughout the series have gone on to voice a character from the DC side of things — Harley Quinn. Most notably, Kaley Cuoco, who played Penny on "TBBT" for all 12 seasons, currently plays the anti-heroine on the HBO Max series "Harley Quinn." All she wants is to be the best bad guy around, and along the way, she may just rediscover what it means to be truly in love. 

Meanwhile, Melissa Rauch, who played Bernadette starting in 2009, also voiced Harley for a short period of time. She lent her voiceover talents to the iconic character for the 2017 animated film "Batman and Harley Quinn."

It seems as though "The Big Bang Theory" cast has somewhat of a knack for playing villains between Parsons, Cuoco, and Rauch, but there's one more main cast member who got in on the villain fun you may not realize. Transcending the labels of Marvel and DC, Howard actor Simon Helberg plays third-rate supervillain Moist in "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." After years of playing nerds and geeks, it perhaps should come as no surprise that this is one cast proficient with playing superpowered individuals.